Tennessee Basketball: Rick Barnes’ recruiting is living up to the hype
Rick Barnes has lost a lot of Tennessee fans, but he’s working hard on the recruiting trail to get them back.
Last year, Athletic Director Phillip Fulmer said Rick Barnes would recruit unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and it looks like Fulmer may be right.
Barnes and company could earn the No. 1 recruiting class ranking for 2020 and if he keeps that up he could very well earn the part of Vol Nation he previously lost this offseason.
Tennessee has never finished inside the top five in recruiting in the modern era, so if Barnes can get the Vols to that number one spot then Fulmer would be absolutely right, and that would mean good things in multiple ways for the Vols.
Barnes is currently sitting at No. 2 on Rivals and No. 6 on 247Sports. Don McDonald of Rivals even believes Tennessee could end up with the top recruiting class in 2020, calling them a “dark horse.”
"“Rick Barnes has done a terrific job building Tennessee back into a national power and has the Volunteers right behind Duke at No. 2,” McDonald said. “With the recent addition of five-star shooting guard Keon Johnson (No. 17), to go along with five-star forward Corey Walker (No. 24), this class has real staying power near the top of the rankings. Five-star guard Jaden Springer (No. 12) is another five-star who could end up in Knoxville and the Volunteers are also right there for four-star big men P.J. Hall (No. 67) and Dylan Cardwell (No. 115). Keep an eye on how Tennessee closes here as the Vols could be a dark horse for No. 1 overall.”"
That would be huge for Barnes in terms of keeping Tennessee fans happy, but the only way he can win over Vol faithful once again is putting that success on the floor consistently, and in the tournament.
Barnes just had one of the best basketball teams to ever take the floor at Tennessee, and he was unable to bring any kind of hardware other than a shared SEC regular-season championship.
No championships in the SEC tournament and no success after the second round in the NCAA tournament is a bad way to keep Tennessee fans happy.
If Barnes can develop these five stars coming in as he did with Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, then Barnes could be in good shape for the next few years.
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2019 could be a year where Barnes proves he still has what it takes to coach at a high level and he’s going to need to prove that along with continuing to recruit at a high level.